FIFA gives green signal for VAR in Russia World Cup

Bengaluru, March 19: Although it has faced a period of transition in club football along with mixed reviews from around the footballing world, FIFA has approved the use of Video Assistant Referee for the 2018 Russia World Cup.

The last step towards giving match officials video assistance in Russia was agreed to on Friday (March 16) by Fifa’s ruling council. “We are going to have our first World Cup with VAR,” the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, said. “It has been approved and we are extremely happy with that decision.”

The VAR has been its way around leagues and their domestic cup games to be further improved and implemented at a larger scale. The system reduces errors made by referees while reviewing and overturning decisions that are very tough to be grasped by the naked eye.

However, the system has its drawbacks, including the time it takes to review a decision and on grounds as why the decision was overturned. But there is no doubting that the system aims to make football more clear and transparent.

Infantino said VAR had been shown to reduce the number of refereeing mistakes in matches where it has been used and would help football become "a fairer and more transparent sport".

"It's not possible that, in 2018, everyone in the stadium and their living room knows if a referee has made a big mistake or not, and the only one who doesn't know is the referee," he added.

Apart from giving a green signal to VAR, a new rule was added for the tournament that allows four substitutions in a match. Teams will be permitted to use a fourth substitute in matches that go into extra time.